<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><BillSummaries>
<item congress="115" measure-type="s" measure-number="2613" measure-id="id115s2613" originChamber="SENATE" orig-publish-date="2018-03-22" update-date="2018-04-16">
<title>Improving Access to Mental Health Act of 2018</title>
<summary summary-id="id115s2613v00" currentChamber="SENATE" update-date="2018-04-16">
<action-date>2018-03-22</action-date>
<action-desc>Introduced in Senate</action-desc>
<summary-text><![CDATA[<p><b>Improving Access to Mental Health Act of 2018</b></p> <p>This bill increases the Medicare reimbursement rate for clinical social worker services. The bill excludes clinical social worker services from the prospective payment system in which predetermined amounts form the basis for payment under Medicare.</p> <p>Additionally, the bill&nbsp;alters the definition of "clinical social worker services" as it relates to Medicare. Under current law, "clinical social worker services": (1) include services performed for the diagnosis and treatment of mental illnesses, and (2) exclude services furnished to an inpatient of a skilled nursing facility as a condition of the facility's participation in the Medicare program. The bill repeals these provisions and instead specifies that such services include certain types of health behavior assessment and intervention.</p>]]></summary-text>
</summary>
</item>
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<dc:language>EN</dc:language>
<dc:rights>Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.</dc:rights>
<dc:contributor>Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress</dc:contributor>
<dc:description>This file contains bill summaries for federal legislation. A bill summary describes the most significant provisions of a piece of legislation and details the effects the legislative text may have on current law and federal programs. Bill summaries are authored by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress. As stated in Public Law 91-510 (2 USC 166 (d)(6)), one of the duties of CRS is "to prepare summaries and digests of bills and resolutions of a public general nature introduced in the Senate or House of Representatives". For more information, refer to the User Guide that accompanies this file.</dc:description>
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</BillSummaries>
